Leah's Happily Ever After
by twifantasy
Summary: Leah was so done with everything. Then suddenly, she met Joel, and everything changes. She's long forgotten about Sam, and his life with Emily. this is Leah taking control of her life, and her story.
1. Chapter 1

Leah's Happily Ever After

**CHAPTER ONE**

Here we go again. I heard the howl and knew immediately what was going on. Jacob had to tell us something, all four of us. Out of the original pack, only five of them remained with Sam. Jared, Paul, Collin, and Brady. Oh, and Sam of course. Sam…

As I ran to the forest, human form and all, I knew I still missed him. No matter how much I told myself I didn't, every cell in my body still ached to be with him. I _had_ made _some_ improvement; the ache was more like a dull throb now. That's when I heard it.

The second howl of the second (or first, whatever way you want to look at it) Alpha.

Sam.

That's when I froze in my tracks. If both packs were meeting, something big must have happened. The last time we were all together like this was when the leeches were in town. Well… the other leeches. Back when we fought for the little half-breed… Back when seven young men, boys really, had their lives changed forever. Back when they had shifted.

This is how the story went. Sam had changed back when he was eighteen. Soon followed by Paul and Jared when they were eighteen. They're really only a few months younger than Sam. Then a while later, Embry, Jacob, and Quil changed. They were sixteen. Right before my eighteenth birthday, I changed. Followed quickly by my fifteen-and-a-half year old brother Seth. I'm pretty sure I changed so late because I'm a girl… the only girl.

Collin and Brady came after that. They were _almost _fifteen. Just freshman. Really young. They were the last before the huge werewolf explosion. In the course of two weeks we had seven more wolves in La Push.

First came Caleb. Age fourteen. Then followed the next day by Jeremy and Matt. Also fourteen. Then it got really out of hand. Two days later, Lucas and Nathan changed within hours of each other. Age thirteen. Kyle followed in the next twenty-four hour period. He was thirteen as well. Six new wolves in one week. But the wolf gene wasn't done yet.

Some poor little boy, Wyatt, was changed at the young age of only twelve. Not even a teenager. He was in seventh grade. The new wolves didn't even have time to adjust before they had to get ready to fight. Four years it had taken for seventeen wolves to erupt into La Push, WA.

As I got to the woods, I quickly pulled off my lightweight sun dress and bra. I rolled the bra into the dress, and tied it to my ankle with the leather cord that hung there. I phased easily, and was off. I felt the four other voices in my head immediately.

_Hey Sis._ Seth thought.

_What's up bro? What's going on?_ I thought at him.

_Just hold on a second._ Jacob thought as I came into the woods. Only thirteen wolves were there including me.

_Where are the kids? _I asked with a snort.

_They're coming._ Jacob responded. Sam must have let him know through their Alpha speak thing. I sat down on Jacob's right side and waited for my four youngest wolf brothers. Lucas, Nathan, and Kyle came in together. Thirteen year olds tend to bond with each other. Wyatt came running in a few moments later, always trailing behind. A flood of thoughts hit me as Sam and Jacob opened their minds to each other. Since each pack hears each other's thoughts, if you can hear one person's mind, you can hear everyone's mind.

_Aww man… I hate being the littlest… or youngest at least._ Wyatt thought. Poor guy.

_I don't want your sympathy Leah._ He thought this with an edge to his voice. If forgot about those stupid teenage hormones.

_Sorry._ I muttered. Oops.

_Stay quiet guys._ Sam and Jacob thought in unison. I cringed.

_ You too Leah. _Jacob added this as an afterthought. At least he was trying.

_So as you all may have guessed, there's a new wolf in town._ Jacob began. _But he's not normal. He's twenty-one. _I heard confused murmurs going through both packs.

_ Twenty-one? _

_ Twenty-one?_

_ Twenty-one?_

_ No way! _

_As you all know,_ Sam thought, _we are all direct descendants of the great wolf, through our fathers. _

_ But what if one of our fathers had a brother?_ Jacob thought. _A little brother._ He added.

The story started to spill out. Jacob's dad had a little brother who had been killed at the age of twenty. Billy never told anyone about this brother of his. But his brother had a secret no one knew. He had gotten a young girl from the reservation, only nineteen, pregnant. The first time any of Jacob's family had heard of this girl was last night. She had called Jake's dad begging for help. She explained what was happening, and Billy and Jacob had driven over to their little country house outside of Port Angeles.

Jacob said the guy looked just like him, only older, with a different nose and eye color. His name was Joel Marquie. He took his mother's name. Jacob said he and Billy had explained everything to him as soon Jake could get him to calm down enough to phase back. Joel was at Jake's house right now.

_Now what?_ Wyatt thought excitedly.

_Whoa! Calm down man!_ Seth laughed as Wyatt started pacing around the circle. He was easily amused.

_Well,_ Jake thought, _I think that you should all go meet him. In human form. That way it'll be less traumatizing for him._

Sam agreed. _Never thought of that. _He thought this with surprise in his tone.

_Yeah, we know._ Paul snorted.

_Meet here in two minutes. _Jake thought. He was off. I quickly went in the other direction. Nobody followed me. I kind of needed my privacy…. I quickly dressed and sprinted back to the clearing. I was last, again.

"Sorry. I wear more clothes." I told the guys.

"Ha. Ha. Ha." Kyle laughed. He was _so _young. I mean… He shouldn't even know about bras. What has the world come to today?

"I'll go in and talk to him first. You guys stay out back." Jacob instructed. We all nodded. We set off at a fast pace towards Jake's house. As we neared, I heard a slightly raspy, but deep voice asking Billy a question.

"That must be Joel?" I questioned Jake. He nodded.

"Why did I change so much later than the rest? " Joel was asking.

"Well," we heard old Billy sigh. "It must be because I'm older than your father. The wolf gene must be stronger in me."

Hm. Good enough explanation for me. We walked to Jacob's backyard, and automatically lined up in the order in which we had changed. I was only four places from Sam, since Jacob was inside. I could see Wyatt rocking back and forth on his toes. And once again, Seth was laughing and telling him to chill. Wyatt and Seth were much alike.

"Here's the pack. " Jacob said. Joel was exactly as Jacob had described. Except he didn't just have a different eye color, he had a beautifuleye color. They were a brilliant electric blue. They contrasted wildly with his dark skin.

He looked much like Jacob, but you could see his age by the look in his eyes. He had seen much in the last twelve hours of his life. His jaw was more defined than Jake's, even with all the physical changes they had both undergone in becoming a wolf.

"Wyatt, Kyle, Nathan, Lucas, Matt, Jeremy, Caleb, Brady, Collin, Seth, Leah, Quil, Embry, Jared, Paul, and Sam." Jacob pointed us out in turn as he spoke our names. "This is Joel."

"Hi Joel!" Wyatt said.

"Once again Wyatt," Seth said with a sigh, "Chill."

Joel hadn't met anyone's eyes yet except Jacob's. "Leah?" He whispered to Jake. "There are chicks in this too?"

I cleared my throat. "Actually, it's singular. There's just me." I gave him a grim smile. "Believe me, I'm just as thrilled as you are." I let the sarcasm drip. He looked up at me, and his blue eyes met my brown. In that instant, the world went away. The only people in Jacob's backyard were Joel and I.

Newton's law didn't apply to me anymore; it was only Joel holding me to this earth. I took one step toward him, and felt an ache rip through my body. My body met the ground, and I heard gasps. The last thing I remember was Sam telling Seth to get his mom. There were seventeen faces crowded around me. Only one face mattered. Then all went black.

I was first aware of the smell. That awful smell that only vampires can make. Then I heard voices. First Jacob's, then Sam's, and then Carlisle Cullen's. I groaned and tried to cover my nose. "Leah? Are you okay?" Jacob was asking me a question, but I couldn't focus. I blinked my eyes a few times, and I realized I was still in Jacob's backyard. I felt my mother's hand on my forehead, and I opened my eyes completely. All seventeen of them were still huddled around me. I took in the faces around me, and my eyes met Joel's again.

"Well," I muttered, "this is just a tad bit awkward." I smiled.

"What happened?" Brady asked.

"Um…" How did I do this? I knew what had happened of course. I had imprinted. On Joel. Go figure. I imprint on another wolf. I sat up, and looked at Jacob. If anyone understood the position I was in, he did.

"I…I think I imprinted." I told him. I looked at Joel again. "On Joel." I met Sam's eyes, and he nodded.

"You did what on Joel?" Joel asked. He sounded confused, but not angry. "Cause something weird happened back there. It was like… I don't know how to describe it." He sounded even more confused, but his eyes never left mine.

"OH MY GOSH!" Matt screamed. "Did you imprint on her too?" He asked Joel.

"What?" Joel asked. "I don't know, what is that? All I know is that it kind of feels a little like she's the center of the world."

"Yeah, you imprinted on her." Seth said matter-of-factly.

"Somebody," Joel said desperately, "tell me what's going on." He said this in a calm voice, but I could tell he was confused, scared, and a little frustrated.

"It's okay." I comforted. I tore my eyes off of his and looked to Sam again. "Could you explain please?" I asked him. "I don't really know how."

He gave me a sad smile, filled with memories, and nodded his head. And so Sam told the story. He told Joel exactly what had happened. "Quil, Paul, Jared, Jacob, and I have all imprinted." He finished.

Joel looked slightly dazed. "So… why did Leah pass out?" He seemed to want me to answer.

"I'm not really sure." I told him. I turned to the vampire doctor extraordinaire, and he stepped up. He had been quiet this whole time.

"I'm not quite sure either. " He told me. "I think that it is very possible that you were just overwhelmed. Your mind needed to protect itself. Did you feel anything weird?"

"Well, my whole body kind of ached a little right before I hit the ground." I told him.

He closed his eyes in thought for a moment. "Well," he began, "emotions can sometimes run so high that it's slightly painful. That is especially common in women." He smiled at me.

I gave him a knowing smile back. "Alright." I said and I started to get up. I only got about half-way there. The world had started to spin again when I moved. Jacob caught my arm before I could hit the ground. He sat me down gently. I met his eyes again. I could see the hidden ecstasy that he had for me. His eyes were dancing.

"Well, since I can't really get up," I said, "I need to talk to Joel." I didn't even have to ask Jacob. He knew that I meant _alone. _ Without either of us realizing it, we had become friends.

"Come on guys," Jake said, "I want to show you something that I learned how to do yesterday." He started to walk into the house. Most of the guys caught on right away, they followed Jake's lead. Except for Wyatt. Yeah, we needed to work on him.

"What?" Wyatt asked, confused, "I don't want to go inside."

"C'mon, Wyatt!" Jake said, grabbing his arm. I heard Jake thank the doc, and mom telling Seth she would see him at home. I looked toward Joel, and he looked as confused as ever. But his confusion was not what made me want to cry. It was his look of happiness when I smiled at him.

Joel and I sat in Jacob's backyard for hours. I told him all about imprinting, and all the other legends of our tribe. Every time I spoke he looked at me like he was a deaf man hearing music for the first time. Although, I assume I was looking at him like that too, because that's exactly how it felt.

I explained to him about how we were different. No two wolves had ever imprinted on each other before. He laughed when I said "This could be interesting…" I told him about my past, about what had happened with Sam. He told me how he had always felt lost without a dad, even though his mom treated him well. We talked about the other wolves, and who and imprinted on whom. He was a little freaked out by the fact that vampires are real. We laughed at how badly they stink.

Then we got to the most important question; what pack would he join? He already knew about the two packs, and I had told him about the pros and cons of each of them.

"Sam seems like a great guy… but… I want to be where you are. Especially since Jacob is my cousin." He told me this with a small smile.

I smiled back. "That is exactly the answer I wanted to hear." I leaned over and gave him a hug. He hugged back, and I liked the way it felt to be in his arms. By this time, it was getting dark, so we went into Jacob's house. The older guys were making a poor attempt at showing the younger ones how to play poker. It was quite a sight.

I smiled at everyone as I walked in. Some smiled back, others just stared. "There's a bonfire tomorrow night. " Jacob told me.

"I'll be there." I replied. "Do you need me to get anything?"

"Um… can you pick up the sodas?" He asked.

"Sure." Even though I had imprinted now, Jake and I were still just Jake and Leah. He would stay the friend I needed. I could tell by the conversation that we had just had that nothing would change between us.

"Oh crap!" Jake practically yelled. "I was supposed to go pick up Nessie five minutes ago, I'm babysitting tonight!"

"Well get going Jake!" I practically yelled back. "Her father – or possibly mother- is going to kill you!"

"Oh boy… gotta go!" He yelled as he ran out the door.

I went home a few hours later. Jake and Billy were putting Joel up until they could get him a house on the reservation. It felt strange to be away from Joel. Like part of my body was missing. When I got home, my mom gave me a huge hug. She didn't make a big production out of it, she just acknowledged the fact that something big _had_ happened. I fell asleep with a smile on my lips.

Joel and I had arranged to meet at the beach the next morning. Jacob had told me that he and Sam were going to have a timed race to our meeting place. He told me not to worry about anything; it was just a drill to show Joel what it was like.

Jake told me that after he got back from babysitting, he and Joel had worked a little on intentional phasing. Jake had given him a leather cord to go around his ankle, and he understood the whole "explode out of your clothes" thing.

My job was simple. Make sure Joel got to the circle. And make him get there fast. We had only been at the beach for a few minutes when we heard the two consecutive howls. First came Jacob's, then Sam's.

"What does that mean?" Joel asked in alarm.

"That means that we need to get to the meeting place, and we need to get there fast. Otherwise, we get our butts kicked." I grabbed his hand. "Follow me."

We took off at a run, just slow enough not to attract nearby tourists. As soon as we got deep enough into the woods, I stopped and put some bushes between us. "You know what to do right?" I asked him.

"Yeah." He replied. Without waiting a second longer, I stripped down and phased. He was about twenty seconds behind me. We got to the circle about ten seconds after Wyatt. Jacob hadn't opened his mind to Sam yet, so as not to overwhelm Joel.

It _was_ really weird being inside Joel's head. I could _feel _what he felt for me, and I knew the same feelings were in my head. It was not an unpleasant feeling.

_Focus guys_. Jake thought at us.

_Right._ I thought.

Jacob opened his mind to Sam, and Sam did the same to Jacob. Once again, all the thoughts hit me like a flood.

_Whoa! Cool! _Joel thought. Wyatt was already hopping around excitedly.

_Good job guys._ Sam thought. I cringed.

_And girl._ Jacob thought.

_You all got here in about one minute and fifty-two seconds. That's great._ Sam announced.

_Are you serious?_ Caleb asked Sam. _That was a drill? I was booking it! _He let out a low whine_._

_I'm confused._ Joel thought. He looked at me to explain. Aw, he looked at me…

_Leah!_ Seth barked.

_Oh right. You can read my thoughts. Sorry._ I was getting some pretty scary glares.

_Oh wow, this is the beginning of a really long forever with you guys, isn't it? _Matt asked with a snort.

_ You bet it is!_ I growled.

_Alright guys,_ Jake thought_. I'm going to show Joel all of the places that we run patrol on. Who's coming?_

_ Me! _I mentally yelled.

_Besides Leah,_ he added as an afterthought.

A chorus of "_me's_!" came from the rest of the wolves. Most of them were just excited that we were going to be running really fast. I was included in that. Speed came naturally to me. I was going to kick Jake's butt!

_In your dreams girly! _Jake thought at me.

Then we were off. We ran _so_ fast. We ran Joel all over the edges of La Push, and then we ventured into Forks. We could only stick to the woods, but they got us far enough. We were nearing the Cullen's house, and a mental moan came from all of Sam's pack. The smell didn't really bother me anymore, unless they were like extremely close.

_What is that _smell_? _Joel asked with a gag.

_Remember when I told you about vampires, and how bad they smell?_ I asked him. _Yeah, I wasn't_ _kidding._

_Wow! I didn't think they could smell much worse than that doctor guy._ He gagged again.

_Yeah, but together they smell like- _Nathan didn't get to finish his sentence.

_Nathan! You don't talk like that!_ Brady scolded.

_Whoops. _Nathan added.

As we neared the Cullen's house, the trees thinned into their backyard. Edward was lying outside in the cloudy, but warm day. He was stretched out on a hammock next to Bella. Nessie lay on his chest. We came to a halt at the very edge of the forest. In the silence after running, I could hear Nessie breathing, slow and even. Even from the distance we were at, I could hear Edward humming to her. He was meditatively stroking her back as she slept.

Without any further acknowledgment of us, Bella slid off the hammock and ran to the trees. She paused for only a moment to count our numbers. When she got eighteen, her eyes searched until she found Joel in our pack. When her eyes zeroed in on him, he flinched.

_The red eyes are creeping me out!_ He thought.

Her eyes weren't nearly as bad as they had been a few months ago. Edward came running up behind her. He had laid Nessie down on the hammock. "Who wants to explain what's going on?" He asked. We all started to tell him the story, except Joel.

_Wait… you can read minds?_ Joel asked Edward tentatively.

"Yep, and I would really like to know who you are and why you're a wolf. So don't all think at once." He said with a smile.

Jacob stepped up and began telling Edward the whole story. It didn't take more than forty-five seconds or so. When Jacob got done, Edward translated the story back to Bella. "Wow…" Bella said when Edward got done telling her everything. "So… Leah and Joel imprinted on each other?" She asked. I nodded my head at her. "Oh! That could get uncomfortable." She laughed. "I mean with being in each other's head's and all." She laughed.

"Yeah but the thing is," Edward said, "I don't get to leave their heads… ever." He smiled.

_So… where is the rest of your…family? _Sam asked.

"Carlisle is working, Emmett, Rose, and Jasper are hunting, and Alice and Esme are shopping." Edward answered without missing a beat. Edward rarely heard mental questions from Sam, because Sam rarely asked.

_We're having a bonfire tonight. _Jacob told Edward. _Can Nessie come? _He sounded hopeful.

"Um…" Edward translated for Bella. Bella walked over to Jacob, and stood back so she could look him in the eyes.

"You will _never _lose track of her." She warned Jacob in a stern voice. "Promise?" Jacob nodded his head seriously. "Then I guess she can go…. what time do you want to pick her up?" She asked in a more casual voice.

We all heard him think, _As soon as possible. _Edward narrowed his eyes at him, and he grimly changed it to, _6:30…_

"6:30." Edward reported back to Bella. At that moment, fifty yards away, Nessie sat up sleepily. She looked around in alarm.

"Daddy?" She called, her eyes searching.

"Right here baby." He called. "Go back to sleep." She looked to where his voice came from. She looked confused, but she did as he told her.

_ Aw, _Jake thought._ She's cute._

"Of course she's cute, she's her daughter." Edward said while jerking a thumb at Bella. Bella chuckled. Edward smiled at her. Nobody could deny that they were clearly in love with each other.

"So… you crashing on our couch tonight Jake?" Edward asked with another smirk.

_Ha ha._ Jake thought. We caught a quick glimpse of the prank they had pulled on him a few nights ago. I didn't get all of the details, but it looked funny._ Not after what happened last time…_ he trailed off.

"Alright then," Edward said, "See you at 6:30." He grabbed Bella's hand and they started to walk back over to the hammock.

"Oh!" Bella said, stopping and turning around. "It was nice to… meet you Joel. I'll see you around. Or…will I?" She turned to Jacob. He nodded his big head. She smiled at him, then joined Edward on the way to the hammock.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

We ran off into the woods again. It was getting close to lunch time, and we were all getting hungry. We finished showing Joel around, and then made our way back to La Push. We all parted our own separate ways. Well, all of us except Joel and I. We were going to go get the soda for tonight's bonfire. Tonight should be fun. Actually, I was finding all things were more fun with Joel. The love of my life.

Joel and I decided to go to the bonfire early to help Sam and Emily set up. I went about setting up the food table with Emily. You could tell she was ecstatic about me imprinting. I pretended not to notice though. Sam was trying to show Joel how to start a bonfire. It was pretty funny.

They got the fire going around 6:30, and people started to show up. Seth gave Collin, Brady, Caleb, Jeremy, and Matt a ride. He loved having his driver's license. Embry chauffeured Lucas, Nathan, Kyle, and Wyatt. Paul and Rachel carpooled with Jared and Kim. Quil and Claire showed up a few minutes later. Claire was such a sweetie. Jacob and Nessie showed up last. Her skin glowed in the uncharacteristically clear twilight. All the girls had been happy to meet Joel. Even Nessie. We all stared as she walked up to him, looked him in the eye, shook his hand, and said "Pleased to meet you." Then she smiled at him, and went and climbed onto Jacob's lap.

After we ate all the food on the long food table, the stories began. All the traditional stories were told. When they began talking about the cold ones, my eyes flickered to Nessie. She gave no sign that she either did, or didn't recognize that we were talking about her family. She just stared blankly into the fire.

It was getting late after all the stories were over, but no one wanted to leave just yet. We all stayed until the fire burned down, joking and laughing. It was really fun. As Joel and I walked to my car, we were holding hands. Perfectly content.

The next morning, Sam and I were going to go to Jake's house. Even though Billy and Jake were happy to put up Joel for now, he needed his own house. We had just sat down with our cups of coffee when a loud knock came at the front door. Whoever it was, I could hear them breathing hard. We all stood to go answer it.

When Jake opened the door, we all saw Jared. He was breathing hard, and the panic was clear in his eyes. "Sam!" He said. "My sister she…" He made a claw with his hand.

"Where?" Sam asked. He was very calm. You could tell he had done this before.

"Follow me." Jared said. His breathing was more controlled now. He was feeding off of Sam's calm.

We set off at a sprint for the woods. We all phased, Joel even kept up. Jared led us to a wooded spot behind his house. There, lying on the ground was a very tiny wolf. Even smaller than me. She had extremely light brown fur. It was almost blonde. She looked up as we approached, and the fear was plain in her eyes.

We could all hear her thoughts. She hadn't joined a pack yet. She was confused, and very, very scared. She could hear our thoughts, and there was some recognition toward Jared.

_Jared? _She asked tentatively.

_Right here sis. _He answered. She was comforted by that. She immediately had a million questions pop into her head.

_Whoa there sissy! _Jared thought. _We can answer all of your questions. It'll be a lot easier though if you calm down. Oh…um…_ He became a little flustered. _Leah? _He asked. _Could you help her with this part? _He was clearly uncomfortable.

I snorted. _Sure._ The guys ran off, and she was immediately fearful again. Before she completely freaked out, I stepped up. _Leah Clearwater. _I introduced myself. _Perhaps you've seen me around before._

_ Oh…um… Hi Leah… I'm Brooke. _She was clearly more relaxed.

_Hey Brooke. _I stayed friendly. _I know you're completely freaked out, and totally confused, but you need to calm down. I want you to close your eyes, and focus all your energy into staying calm. That's it. _I coached._ Just stay calm._

She was a very easy going person. It only took her a minute or two to phase back. I threw on my jeans and t-shirt. I tossed her my over-sized sweatshirt, and she quickly put it on. She was smaller than me, so it fell to her knees.

"Um… sit down for a second." I told her, she did as I told her. "C'mon guys!" I spoke up. Sam, Jacob, Jared, and Joel came strolling out of the woods.

"Sam Uley." Sam said, and held out his hand. She shook it. "Oh… um…" Sam looked at me.

I looked at Brooke. She had tears in her eyes. Oh boy… I wasn't very good with tears. I walked over and sat down next to her. I put my arm across her shoulders, and nodded for Sam to continue.

"I know that you're scared." Sam continued. "But I swear, it gets easier." We sat there for about two hours. We told Brooke everything. The more she knew, the more she relaxed.

"So…" she said, "are we," she looked at me "the only two girls?"

I smiled. "Actually, yes. And you know what?" I sighed. "Sometimes, it completely and totally sucks."

She grinned. "Sounds like fun to me." She chuckled. "So… you said only some people are… imprinted." She looked around. "Who?"

"Well…" Sam said. "I am, Quil is, Jared is, Paul is, Jacob is, and… Leah and Joel imprinted on each other." He smirked at me.

"Wait… Jared you imprinted?" She smirked at him. "Poor girl." I laughed. They sounded like me and Seth.

"So… do you want to meet the other wolves?" Jacob asked her.

"Um," She looked down at her clothes.

"How about we meet at the beach in twenty minutes? You guys go round up the rest of the wolves." I suggested this, but nobody was going to argue.

"Alright." Jake agreed. "See you in twenty minutes."

With that, Jacob, Joel, Sam, and Jared walked off. I helped Brooke off the ground, and she led the way into her house. Her house was much like all the family houses in La Push. Small, but comfortable. We went into her bedroom and she shut the door. She found some new clothes, and she tossed me my sweatshirt. I put it back on.

"Um… I have to tell you something. Why don't you sit down." I told her this with all the seriousness the situation required clear in my voice. She sat down and seemed to brace herself for what I was going to say next. "Brooke…" I didn't know how to do this. I decided to just come right out and say it. "Brooke, now that you're a wolf, you can't have kids."

She looked confused for a second, and then realization dawned on her face. "You mean I stop…" She looked like she was going to cry.

"You see, Sam has a theory. He thinks we imprint so we can keep the gene going. Reproduce." I began. "For the longest time, I thought I wasn't going to imprint. I thought I was a genetic dead end." She was still clearly sad, but she was focused on me. "But I have a theory of my own. My theory is that Sam's theory is wrong. I think this because I imprinted three days ago, and nothing has really changed." A sudden idea came to me. "Or," I said with a new lightened tone. "Sam's theory is right. Maybe my body just doesn't know it yet."

She smiled. "Then let's just hope Sam _is _right."

As we walked onto the sandy beach, the guys lined up in order. Jake pointed Joel to the end of the line. We stopped in front of the line. "Guys," I said, "this is Brooke." They all either smiled or nodded their heads. I went down the line giving her all of their names.

"So," Embry said, "How old are you Brooke?"

"Sixteen." She replied. As I watched her face, I saw her friendly smile turn. At first her face looked happy. Then she gasped, and fell to the ground. I caught her, laid her down, and turned her over on her back. By now the guys had rushed over. They were all talking at once, and they were all confused. One voice rang out loud and clear.

"Quiet." Sam said calmly, but sternly. Silence fell immediately. "Now," Sam said, "the last time this happened, two people imprinted. If that happened again, you need to speak up now." Sam looked around. We all did the same.

"Oh boy." Embry spoke up. "Uh…uh…yeah. Yeah I imprinted on her." He looked to Sam as he said this.

"Well… then I think there's a pretty good chance that she imprinted on you." Sam said this matter-of-factly.

"Dude…" Jared said, "You imprinted on my little sister."

"Sister?" More than half of the guys said this at the same time.

"Yeah." Jared said. "Little sister."

A murmured "oh" went through all of the guys.

"Yeah so while we're confessing, I have to tell you guys something. " Sam had our attention fully now. What could he possibly have to tell us? "Emily's pregnant." She was what? They just got married. Three months ago…whoa! Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. We all just stared at him.

"Sam!" I yelled. "That's huge!" I jumped up and gave him a hug.

"Oh!" He grunted as I crashed into him.

"'I'm so happy for you! Congratulations!" I was still yelling.

"Wow… pregnant… gosh… congratulations…" half the pack was muttering this. The other half had their mouths hung open and were staring at Sam like he had grown a second head. This was mostly the younger half.

"When is she due?" I asked.

"Sometime in June." He smiled. "She told me last night."

Brooke groaned from where she was lying on the ground. Embry was kneeling by her head. I knelt by her and her eyes started to flutter. She opened her eyes and looked at Embry. He smiled at her. "Leah?" She called to me. "Is it possible I imprinted?"

"Yes." I told her. "Actually, it's more like probable. Do you feel like one person is holding you to the ground?"

"Yeah," she said as if in a trance. "It kind of feels like Embry is."

"Well then… you probably imprinted on Embry." I smiled at the two of them.

"And," Embry said. "Embry probably imprinted on you."

Brooke sighed. "That's cool."

He laughed. "No, that's freaking awesome!" We were all laughing now. I helped Brooke sit up. She looked at me.

"I really hope Sam's right." She giggled.

"I could look at _that_ two different ways." I gave her a falsely stern look.

"What do you hope Sam's right about?" Lucas asked.

"Oh…um... nothing." I said. Brooke laughed again.

"So…" Jake said, "I'm going to go running. Does anyone want to come?" Just then his cell phone rang. "Hello?" He answered. I could tell that is was Edward's voice talking, but I couldn't tell what he was saying. "So… why are you telling me?" Jake asked. "Do you need us to do something?" Edward said something, and Jacob said, "Oh! Okay bye." Then he hung up the phone.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Edward said that some vampires are coming over to their house. They are sending Nessie over here because they don't know what kind of situations will arise." He said this quickly.

Out of nowhere, Nessie came running up behind Jacob. She jumped on his back, and started pulling him to the ground. "Whoa!" Jake yelled, completely surprised. In a matter of seconds, she had him pinned to the ground. She even poised her teeth at his neck. A quiet hiss came from between her lips.

"Wow." Jake said this completely appalled.

"Ha ha ha!" She laughed. She jumped off of him.

"Where'd you learn how to do that?" Jake asked. He began to smile.

"Last night. In the woods. With Emmet and Jasper. It was awesome!" She was smiling from ear to ear.

"You were out in the woods with Emmet and Jasper? Alone?" He asked with fear in his voice.

"Yes. It was very fun." She was still grinning.

"Don't they scare you?" He asked her.

"Nope." She smiled even bigger. She looked over at the rest of us. "Who are you?" she asked Brooke.

"Um… I'm Brooke." Brooke responded shyly.

"Pleased to meet you Brooke." She held out her tiny hand. "Hmmm…" She said thoughtfully. "You smell like a wolf to me… are you a wolf?"

"Yeah… what are you?" Brooke answered. We had all told her about Nessie, so she looked like she already knew the answer.

"Well… I'm Nessie." She answered. "I'm… half vampire… half human."

"Oh." said Brooke. "That's _really_ cool."

Nessie smiled at her. "Guess what Jake?" She asked excitedly.

"What?" He asked with a grin.

"My friend Tanya and her family are coming for a visit." She told him excitedly.

"Tanya?" He asked. "Aren't they the ones from Denali?"

"Yes," she said. "Mommy told me that I might have to spend the night with you sometimes though. When I asked her why, she told me because they would be too noisy when I'm trying to sleep." She stopped for a quick breath. "And Kate and Garrett are GETTING MARRIED!

Jake started to laugh. "Dang, little girl where do you get your energy?" he asked

She didn't realize it was a rhetorical question. "From a big group of mountain lions that me and daddy found yesterday. It was amazing!"

"Well okay then." Jacob said. She put her hand on his face and she began to show him something. I assume it was everything that she just told him.

Brooke and Embry were smiling at each other now. I could tell they wanted to be alone. They needed to talk. "Who wants to come hiking up on the mountains with me?" I asked. I knew this would get at least the younger guys to come with me. They loved hiking. Hopefully the older guys were smart enough to leave Brooke and Embry alone.

Sure enough, Caleb, Jeremy, Matt, Lucas, Nathan, Kyle, and Wyatt all wanted to come with me. And Joel too of course.

We hiked for hours. We even skipped lunch we were having so much fun. We got back to town around five o'clock. Joel and I started walking back to my house to get some food. Mom was still at work, but she wouldn't mind if Joel came over.

When we got to my house, Jacob and Seth were sitting there talking. Nessie was trying to climb the tree in our yard. Seth looked different. His eyes were happier. Joel and I neared, and they stopped talking and looked up at us. "What's going on?" I asked Seth.

He seemed to be at a loss for words, something that never happened to my little brother. "Um," he said, "I imprinted." He met my eyes.

"YOU WHAT?" I yelled.

"Imprinted." He repeated calmly.

"On who?" I demanded.

"Abbey Nixon… she lives right by the beach. She's thirteen years old." He smiled.

"Who have you told?" Joel asked.

"Well," Seth said, "Jake and I told her parents, and I told her. Yeah, that was uncomfortable."

"So her parents are both Quileute?" I asked.

"Yeah. Thank gosh." Seth said with a sigh.

"How'd she take it?" I asked with a grin.

"Pretty well, considering she's old enough to understand, but young enough to freak out." Seth laughed. "Apparently, her parents knew dad pretty well. They're talking with Billy now."

"Oh. Well… does Sam know?" I asked.

"No." Jake said. "Emily isn't feeling very good. Sam's been taking care of her all afternoon. We didn't want to pull him away."

"Um, okay Mr. Alpha, but I think Sam might want to know." Anybody could hear that this was more than just a suggestion.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Jake said. "Let's go tell him Seth."

"Do you want me to come?" I asked.

"No it's fine." Seth said as he and Jake began to walk away.

"Oh!" I said. "Have you seen Brooke?"

They laughed. "Yeah she hasn't moved." Jake said, pointing down the road to the beach. I could see Brooke and Embry down on the beach laughing. They were exactly where I had left them.

"Wow." I said. "I guess they had a lot to talk about."

"Yeah I guess." Seth said. And then they were gone.

"Let's get some food." I said, and we walked into the house

Approximately four minutes later, I was running down the street like a crazy woman. I couldn't believe what had just happened. Joel was following me, completely confused. "Brooke!" I yelled as I got closer. I had to tell her. This was good news. "Brooke!" I yelled again. She turned her head. I reached her side, and grabbed her shoulders. I almost knocked her over.

"Sam was right!" I screamed. It took her a second to catch on.

"What?" she said, screaming with me. "He was right? You mean…

"Yeah!" I finished her sentence.

"That's great!" We hugged each other. Joel and Embry looked completely confused. I was almost crying I was so happy.

"You want to tell us what's going on?" Joel asked.

"Nothing," I said. "Absolutely nothing." I was still grinning from ear to ear.

Later that night, Joel and I were sitting at home talking. Seth was at Jake's house, and mom had called to tell me that she was working an extra shift at the hospital. So Joel and I were alone, for one of the first times ever.

We were sitting on my bed, facing each other. "Leah?" he said. "I've only known you for a few days, but I feel like I've known you my whole life. You know everything about me, and I like how that feels."

My heart literally stopped beating. "That exactly how I feel about you." I said breathlessly.

And that's all he needed. He leaned in, and our lips met. It was the most natural thing in the world. My arms wrapped around his neck, and he pulled me closer by the waist. We both came up breathing hard.

"Leah…"He breathed. I couldn't say anything. I just stared at his beautiful face. Before my very eyes, I saw him kneel to the ground. I stopped breathing. He pulled out a little black box. Inside was the most beautiful ring I had ever seen. I couldn't believe this was happening.

"Leah Clearwater," he said, his eyes boring into mine. "Will you marry me?"

Of course I already knew the answer. I wanted to marry him. I needed to. It was destiny. But my lips just couldn't form the words. I was still in shock. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, my brain cooperated.

"Yes!" I yelled. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" I threw my arms around him.

He hugged me back. "Yes!" He yelled. He kissed me again. For the first time ever, I was crying happy tears. I wanted to scream I was so excited.

He slid the ring onto my finger, and he kissed it. "Let's go tell everybody!" I suggested.

"Okay… but… who first?" He asked.

"Well…" I wasn't sure who to tell first. Who would take it the best? Seth. Seth would take it well, that was just his nature. But how well? I imagined saying 'Seth, I'm getting married to Joel, after only knowing him for three days'. Huh… this was the hard part. "Seth." I told him. "But Jake's with him so… maybe we should tell him too."

"You know what?" He asked me. "I don't think it matters who we tell first."

"You're right." I said. "Let's get married soon! Like… two weeks soon!" I laughed, and he joined in.

"Sounds good to me." He said as he leaned in for another kiss.

That had gone much better than either of us had hoped. Mom had cried, but only because she was so happy for us. Jake and Seth had started screaming and jumping around like idiots. Brooke's reaction was similar, but a little more dignified. Sam had hugged me, and Emily had shrieked. I met Abbey. She was a little shy, but she had that kind of natural beauty that people had forgotten about. Her hair was as light as Brooke's, but it had a slightly red tint to it.

We had set our wedding date. September sixteenth. It was going to be a small wedding; just the wolves and some of their families. Brooke was going to be my maid of honor, and Jake was going to be best man. We were going to get married in Jake's backyard, since it was fenced in. The local minister would marry us, and we were going to California for our honeymoon. There was a couple's ski resort right by the Northern border. Emily, Brooke, and I were going to go dress shopping tomorrow. Sam had finally found a house for Joel, and I would move in with him there. Our wedding would be amazing.

September sixteenth dawned clear, but not too sunny. It was warm for September. Everything was ready. Not that it would matter. I was marrying Joel today. The world could end, and it would still be a good day. Just because I was marrying Joel. We were getting married at ten am, and it was already seven thirty. Emily and Brooke were coming over at eight, to help me get ready. Mom was setting up the backyard with Seth. Some of the guys were going to come over and help with that.

At exactly nine fifty-seven, I was opening the door to Jacob's backyard. Kim, who was playing the music for the wedding, cued the music for Jake and Brooke to walk down the aisle.

"Ready sis?" Seth asked me. He was going to walk me down the aisle, stand in for dad.

"Only if you are, baby brother." I said. I jumped up and kissed him on the cheek. "You're an awesome little brother Seth." I smiled at him. "I love you."

He smiled. "Love you too sis. Let's do this!" he said. As the wedding march started, my eyes met Joel's. He was smiling at me. I smiled back. I didn't take my eyes off of him as we drew closer. At the end of the aisle, Seth placed my hand in Joel's, and then took his place by mom. Our ceremony was short and sweet_. _Just the classic vows. Before I knew it, the ceremony was over. I was kissing Joel, and the minister was announcing us Mr. and Mrs. Joel Marquie. Everyone was cheering, and we were getting hugs from all directions.

The reception was small, just like the wedding. Joel was a great dancer, so he did the leading for our first dance. We were saying goodbye to everyone by one o'clock. I was extremely happy. We laughed the entire way to California about nothing in particular. We were running on a high. It was one of the best days of my entire life.

Two weeks later, after an awesome honeymoon, we got back to La Push. The first thing we saw was Brooke and Embry running patrol in wolf form. Something was bothering me. I had a growing suspicion that I was… well… pregnant. You see, I really shouldn't be freaked that I skipped. I mean honestly, it wasn't even really regular. But… I don't know, I just had this feeling. I decided that if I was still suspicious by the end of the week, I would buy a test.

I loved being married to Joel. There weren't any time limits to our time together. I woke up every morning with him next to me. One morning, I found him staring at me when I woke up. He told me I was beautiful. I almost cried.

The end of the week came, and still no sign of my dear friend. I walked into the grocery store to buy the test. This could be awkward. I live in a town where everybody knows everybody. What if I knew the sales clerk? Unfortunately, I did know her. Mercifully, it was Angela Weber. At least she wouldn't go around starting rumors.

On my way home, I tried sorting through my feelings. Did I want a baby? No… or at least I wasn't planning on one. Not now anyway. But what if one was coming? Then… so be it. Joel and I would get through it together. Even after only knowing him for a little while, I knew we could get through anything. Together.

Joel wasn't supposed to be done running patrol for an hour, so I decided to take the test. Twenty minutes later, I looked at the results. What I saw made me collapse to the floor. Positive.

I stared at the stupid device, not believing my eyes. I felt the tears come, and I couldn't stop them. I didn't know why I was crying. This wasn't a bad thing, just life changing. That made me cry harder. Joel found me crying on the bathroom floor, fifteen minutes later.

"Leah?" he asked, not bothering to stay calm. "What's going on? Are you alright?"

I started to cry harder. I showed him the test, and carefully watched his face. I saw it go from worry, to confusion, to shock, and finally to care. He put his arm around my shoulder and kissed my head. "Sh… Leah it's okay. We'll be okay." He murmured. His words comforted me. The tears stopped. I leaned into him for support.

"What do we do now?" I asked him. "Do we go see a doctor? And if so who? Do we tell someone? What do we do Joel?"

He thought for a moment. "Leah, I don't know what to do. Even if we were both fully human I wouldn't know what to do."

"Wow." I said. "We need some help. I think… I think I'm going to call Jacob."

"Why Jacob?" He asked confused.

"I don't know." I told him. "I think I'll call Emily too."

"Alright." He said. "You call Emily; I'll just go get Jake."

A few minutes later, Emily was sitting next to Joel and me on our couch, and Jacob was in our recliner. I had told them about the pregnancy test. Jake seemed to be deep in thought. "Leah… Joel…" he said tentatively. "You guys need a doctor. But… you can't just go to any doctor. This isn't a normal pregnancy. You need a very not normal doctor." He stopped as if waiting for a response.

Of course, I knew what he was saying. "Ugh," I moaned. "No, Jake. He scares me…."

"Leah," He said sternly. "This is what's best for your baby. You have to want that."

Joel was catching on. So was Emily. She squeezed my hand. I looked Jake in the eye. "Will you talk to him with us?" I pleaded.

"Of course," he said sincerely.

"Look at it this way," Emily said positively. "Dr. Cullen is delivering my baby, so it'll be almost like a human birth."

I laughed. "Thanks for the positivity."


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

A few minutes later, we were nearing the Cullen's house. Joel had driven us in his old blue pick-up. When we got there, we saw Edward sitting on the porch reading a textbook. We were all thinking about what was going on, so he obviously knew the whole story.

"Carlisle," he said. "There are a few people here that want to talk to you." Without saying anything else, he went inside. The doctor came out seconds later.

"Jacob?" he asked. "What's going on?" he was concerned, but calm.

"Well…" Jacob said. "I hate to ask, but we need a little help."

"Never hesitate to ask us for help Jacob." He stated.

"Then… um…" Jacob was at a loss for words. He didn't know how to say it apparently.

"I'm pregnant." I said. That's one way of doing things. "With a very inhuman baby."

He had no reaction. He didn't freak out or start screaming. He just looked at me, and said, "I see."

Joel spoke up. "We need your help."

"I see." He said again. "Why don't you come up to my office? We'll get an ultrasound going, and we'll talk." He paused for a second. He seemed to be considering something. "If you don't mind, I think I'm going to ask Edward to sit in on this. He can be pretty intellectual. He might have a few ideas I never thought of."

"I don't mind." I told him. Emily had been silent this whole time. She squeezed my hand again.

As we were walking into the house, I saw that the whole family was sitting in the living room. The two bigger guys, Emmet and Jasper, and the little girl, Alice I think, were playing cards with Nessie. She was holding her own.

He led us up the stairs to his office. There was what looked like a surgical table in the corner. There were machines, books, and medical supplies everywhere. There was a wide window, and the curtain was open. "Edward could you come here please?" he called. I heard Edward get up and start climbing the stairs. The doc motioned for me to lie down on the table. I did as he wanted. Joel sat down by my head and Emily on my left. Jacob stood at the other end of the room.

Edward came in the room and looked around. "Okay…" he said. "Why am I here?"

"You're going to be intellectual for us." Jacob said with a smirk. Edward rolled his eyes, and looked at Carlisle.

"Just give us your opinion on a few things." The doc explained. Edward nodded. Carlisle had been busying himself turning on some machines. "Okay Leah…" he said. "This is the ultrasound. It's too early to hear a heartbeat, but I want to see where the baby is positioned." He squirted some gel on my stomach, and started sliding a piece of the ultrasound over my abdomen. The ultrasound screen looked really fuzzy to me, but he seemed to know what he was doing. "Ah…" he said. "Right there." He pointed to a little dot on the screen. "That is your baby."

Oh my gosh. It was so small. Like smaller than I thought possible. "You're about two weeks along. So you should be due sometime in June." The doc informed me.

"Like me." Emily said. She smiled at me. I smiled back.

"The baby is right below her ribcage." Edward stated.

"Yep." Carlisle agreed. "Everything looks good to me. Nice, strong baby." He wiped the extra gel off my stomach and started to shut off all the machinery. He wrote a few things on a clip board. "Okay." He said. "Now for the inhuman parts." I sat up and wrapped my arms around my legs.

"I'm wondering about phasing." I admitted. "Should I phase?"

"Well it's not something you can always help." Edward said.

"The thing is Leah," Carlisle said. "This has never happened before. We might have to go with trial and error."

I nodded my head. "My thoughts," Edward said. "Is that she should keep phasing, because eventually, she might not be able to help it."

"I agree," said the doc. "But Leah, take it easy. I mean, you'll be pregnant as a wolf too."

I sighed. "That makes me feel bad. Slacking off on my jobs." I sighed again.

"Hold on," Emily said. "If anyone wants to give you crap because you're pregnant, they're going to have to come talk to me." She pointed at herself.

"Or me." Joel said.

"Or me." Jacob seconded.

"Or me!" Bella yelled from downstairs.

I clicked my tongue. "Thanks Bella."

"No problem." She called again.

"So anyways," The doc continued. "I would like to do an ultrasound every week until delivery. Just to make sure nothing strange is going on. As long as everything looks good, I'm going to treat this as a normal pregnancy." He seemed to be in thought for about five seconds. "Leah, Joel… I don't know what this child is going to be like. With two dominant wolf gene parents."

I was quiet for a moment. "Well… let's not worry about that now. Let's just hope for the best, and take it as it comes."

"That sounds perfect." Joel agreed.

"Well then Mr. and Mrs. Marquie, call me if anything strange starts to happen. Hopefully, I won't see you guys for a week." Carlisle smiled at me.

I climbed off the table. "Thank you. You don't know how much this means to me. To us."

"It's no problem. Don't hesitate to call." He told us.

As we walked out of the house, Emily said to me, "Do you need me to do anything?"

I thought for a moment. "Actually… could you come with us to tell Sam?"

"Sure, I'll tell him myself if you'd like." She laughed.

I laughed with her. "No it's okay, I just need the moral support."

Twenty-five minutes later, we were sitting in Emily and Sam's living room. Joel and I were on the couch. Sam and Emily were on the loveseat. I looked Sam in the eye. "Sam, I'm pregnant." He lost it for half a second. His eyes bugged out. Only for half a second though. "Carlisle Cullen is my doctor right now. He says it's alright for me to phase, but I need to take it easy."

"Okay." He said. "No problem. Whatever you need." He smiled. "Congratulations."

"Thanks." Joel and I said at the same time.

"Now for the hard part," I sighed. "I have to tell the other guys."

"I'll call them together now, if you'd like." Sam offered. Jacob, who had silently stood in the corner, nodded his head. We all got up, and I promised to call Emily later. We walked into the woods, and phased. Jake and Sam howled, and within minutes. We were surrounded by wolves. I had already told the guys that I wanted to tell the others.

_What's going on chief? _Matt asked.

_Leah needs to tell you something. _Sam thought quickly._ Leah and Joel _he added_._

They all looked at me. _I'm pregnant. _I thought plainly. There was one beat of silence. But only one.

_# !%*# !%*_

Sam let them go for a second. Then thought in sync with Jacob, _One at a time._

Seth was told to go first. He just stared for a while, then thought, _Can I be its favorite Uncle?_

Joel and I both laughed. _You're its only Uncle! _I told him.

Most of the guys just told us congratulations. Seth had the best reaction.

Sam explained that I would have to take it easy, and not run patrol for too long. Both Wyatt and Seth offered to take my shifts. They loved running. After a few more minutes, we all phased back except for Collin and Brady who were running patrol. Where did the time go? It seemed like just yesterday they were the two littlest kid wolves, running their first patrol with me.

I called Emily tonight. We talked for almost two hours. We were both terrified to be moms. It made me feel better that we were going through this together. We figured out that we would be giving birth on close to the same day.

A few days later, Sam called Joel and I and told us to meet him at his house. He said he wanted to run an idea by us. When we got there, Quil, Paul, Jacob, Jared, Brooke, Embry, and Seth were there. I quickly realized that this was all of the people who had imprinted. We sat down on the floor. Seth offered me his seat, but I told him I was good for a few months.

Sam said, "Do you guys want to take a vacation?"

We all just stared at him. "I heard about this place," he continued. "That's all about partner building." He kept going. "They get a lot of couples. Would you guys be interested? We wouldn't be going until January."

We were all still quiet. "What kind of activities would we be doing?" Jacob asked.

"Rock climbing, mental stuff, a few more physical activities, and other stuff."

"Sounds like a lot of stuff," Jared said, mocking Sam. Sam ignored him.

"Where is it and where would we stay?"Jacob asked.

"Southern California and we would stay in a hotel." Sam answered.

"Um, Sam?" I said. "Have you lost your mind? Your wife and I are going to be four months pregnant then, we can't do that!"

"Leah," he said. "I already checked with both of your doctors, which isn't really hard because it's the same guy, but he said that it should be fine. We'd only be gone for two weeks, and he said it's okay if you miss a few ultrasounds. As long as nothing drastic happens, it should be fine."

"Oh." I said. "Okay then."

"I'll have to check with Bella and Edward, but Nessie should be able to come." Jake said.

"Hold on," Embry said. "Who's going to run things here?"

Sam smiled. "I think Collin and Brady are ready for a little more responsibility."

"Gosh," Jared muttered. "It seems like just yesterday they were the babies."

"I know." I agreed.

We all needed to talk to a few people before we agreed to go, but we decided to let Sam know by tonight. The next morning we would meet to let the younger guys know what was going on. We were going to meet around six-thirty am, and I fully intended to go. But when six-thirty rolled around, I wasn't feeling too hot. I was nauseous, and when I sat up, my head spun. I groaned when I sat up.

"What's wrong?" Joel asked.

"I'm not doing too well." I told him. "I think I have morning sickness." I gave him a sad little smile.

"I'll stay here with you." He offered.

"No." I insisted. "You go ahead. Could you bring me some water though?"

He smiled back at me. "Sure, if you're positive that you don't want me to stay."

"Positive." I muttered. He kissed my forehead, and then went to get me my water.

The next few months that passed were not extremely eventful. My morning sickness was mercifully short lived. Emily had it a little worse, but she was feeling better by the middle of October. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat on the sixteenth ultrasound. It was strong, and steady.

Both Emily and I got our first sign of a baby bump one week before we were going to leave. We had to go find some maternity clothes for the trip. By the time January rolled around, _none _of my old clothes fit me. Even the little guys were noticing. On the night before we left for our trip, we were all getting together at Sam's house to load up the cars. We were all finished packing by seven, and Sam and Emily invited us for dinner.

I went to help Emily start the food. As I stirred the soup, I felt the weirdest sensation. It was kind of like nausea, only not uncomfortable at all. Like my stomach was churning, only not in a bad way. The lightest of nudges came from my belly button. The baby was moving. Kicking.

"Emily…" I called. She came walking in. "The baby is kicking." I told her.

She smiled at me. Then her face changed to confusion. "I… I think mine is too!" She was smiling again.

We started to laugh. "And so it begins." I said. That made her laugh harder.

The next morning, we were all climbing in the cars to get going. It was a ten hour trip, but we were going to do it in one day. Joel and I were riding in his truck with Paul and Rachel. We were taking most of the luggage. Since all of the guys, and most of the girls could drive, nobody had to drive for very long. We only made a few stops, so we made good time. When we got there, we only had two rooms; one for the guys and one for the girls. Each of the rooms had two large beds, a large pullout couch, and a wall cot. Rachel and Emily were sharing a bed, and so were Brooke and I. Kim and Abbey were on the pullout, and Nessie and Claire were sharing the cot. We were all so tired when we got in that we pretty much just changed clothes and fell asleep.

The next morning, we had to start bright and early. We had an activity at eight o'clock. It was going to be at an indoor pool, four blocks away. The people who ran this owned it. We would be the only people in the group, because we had so many couples. When we got to the pool, my mouth fell open. It was huge. I quickly saw that the shallow end was four feet deep. I hoped these people knew what they're doing, because they said it was safe for kids. Claire wasn't that tall…

A younger lady came walking over to where we were, followed by a younger man. "I'm Katy," said the girl. "This is Joe."

He waved his hand."So," he said. "Do you guys want to know what you're doing?"

"Yeah," Jared answered. "But I have a bad feeling about this."

Joe laughed. "Okay, all the girls are going to be blindfolded and have their hands and feet tied up. They will also have their noses plugged."

"Oh boy." Abbey said.

"And guys," Katy started, "You are at the other end of the pool. You will all jump in. Guys, save the girls before they die."

"The key is trust." Joe said. "Girls, you have to trust the guys not to let you drown."

"Bad idea Sam," Rachel noted.

"Do you trust me Nessie?" Jake asked.

"Yep," She answered without missing a beat.

"I don't trust you Joel." I told him.

"Thanks babe." He said sarcastically.

"No problem." I added.

"We'll get in the water down by the girls, just in case something happens." Katy told us. "Any questions?"

Nobody had any questions. The girls separated from the guys. I wasn't extremely freaked. I knew they wouldn't let anything happen to us. I got a little nervous when they tied us up and plugged our noses. It was even scarier when they blindfolded us. I could hear the guys at the other end of the pool, so I knew they weren't far.

"Okay girls, jump." Katy instructed. I freaked. I didn't know what else to do, so I just jumped. The water was warm. It swirled around me. I couldn't breathe. I tried to stay calm, but it was hard. The baby was kicking me from the inside out. It was feeding off my fear. What felt like an eternity later, I felt Joel's arms around me. He grabbed me from behind, so I was pressed against his chest. I could feel his strong legs kicking, pulling me upward. His touch was calming. The water was twelve feet deep and I didn't know how far I had sunk down. I needed air. Just when I thought I couldn't hold my breath any longer, we broke the surface.

I gasped, and heard several gasps around me. Joel started pulling me toward the edge. He pulled us both out, and laid me on my back. He unplugged my nose, and took the blindfold off of me. He untied my hands and feet, and I started to get my breath back. He brushed my hair back. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," I answered automatically. I looked around me. The other girls were all untied. Claire looked completely spooked. Nessie looked like she had just had a blast. I sat up. Emily was next to me. She looked over to where I was. She wrapped her arms around her stomach. "That was an experience." She muttered. I nodded.

The rest of the day was exhausting. We had to tread water for an hour with only a small floatation device. That wouldn't have been extremely hard, except Joel and I had our wrists tied together and nobody could talk. Once again we fell into bed exhausted.

The next day, we were meeting with Joe and Katy in one of the hotel conference rooms. When we got there, Joe and Katy gave us a new set of instructions. "Today," Katy said, "We're going to see how well you know each other's handshakes."

"You will each take a turn being blindfolded," Joe continued. "The guys will go first. The girls will line up in a line. You will shake each of their hands, until you find your partner."

Jacob volunteered to go first. They stood Claire and Nessie on stools, so they wouldn't be able to guess with the help of height. Not that it would matter. Anybody could pick out Nessie's smooth, warm hand.

Of course Jacob got it right. Joel went next. He didn't pause for any of the other girls until he got to Emily. He seemed to hold her hand for a second longer than the rest. When he touched my hand, he immediately said, "Leah." All of the guys ended up getting it right. No surprise there.

The girls ended up getting them all right too. I thought Claire would struggle, but she didn't miss a beat when she touched Quil's hand. It was like automatic for her or something. Although I guess it was like that for all of us…

We decided to sit up and talk for a while at the end of the day. Around nine thirty, I felt a kick. It was harder than the others. "Joel, "I said. He immediately turned his attention to me. "Put your hand right here." I moved his hand over my bellybutton.

He was quiet for a minute, then muttered, "Whoa…" I gave him a small smile.

"You can feel it Joel?" Emily asked.

"Yeah…" he said.

"Wow," Emily continued. "It must be kicking pretty hard then-" She stopped and put her hand to her stomach. "Kind of like that." She said and laughed. She moved Sam's hand from her own and to her abdomen.

"Whoa," he said.

She laughed again. "Whoa is right." I laughed with her.

"This is strange." I said. "You know, having something moving around inside of you."

"I know," Emily agreed.

The other guys just kind of stared at us. "Leah," Nessie spoke up. I looked at her. "Your baby has a pretty heartbeat." She said. "And so does yours Emily." She added.

"You just made my day kid." I told her with a smile. She smiled back.

The rest of the week passed with little physical activity. The hardest part was when we had to swing on a rope. Once again, it wouldn't have been hard, except for the fact that we had our wrists tied together and we were blindfolded.

After a free day on Sunday, we were ready for some hard work on Monday. We were going to be rock climbing today. When we got to the park where we would climb, I saw the wall. I got scared. It was a huge flat rock with some pegs in it. It had to be forty feet high.

Katy and Joe were already hooked up and ready to go. "I'm sure you guys already guessed what we're going to be doing." Katy said. "Climbing this wall obviously."

"The only thing is," Joe continued. "You will be harnessed together. It's called buddy climbing."

I was still freaked, but it comforted me to be harnessed to Joel. He wouldn't let anything happen to me, or the baby. After we were all harnessed up, they hooked us to the top of the wall. We all spread out along the wide wall, and got ready to climb. We were all wearing helmets, just in case. "Go ahead," Katy told us. Joel and I started our climb together. Abbey and Seth were out climbing us all. Seth told me that Abbey rock climbs for fun. Jake and Nessie weren't far behind. Brooke and Embry were fast as well. They weren't much slower than Jake and Nessie. Rachel and Paul kept a steady pace even with Kim and Jared. Kim and Rachel jogged together, so they were both pretty physically fit.

Joel and I were most definitely not fast, but we had a pace. We moved into a rhythm. Joel would grab a higher peg, and I would grab a lower one. We would step up together, then begin again. This rhythm worked for about three fourths of the way up. By this point, Abbey and Seth, Brook and Embry, and Jacob and Nessie were already at the top. Kim and Jared and Rachel and Paul were almost there. Quil and Claire were neck and neck with us. Claire was being pulled by Quil now. All she had to do was hold on. Sam and Emily were just a bit behind us. The pegs were getting farther apart now.

At one point, I couldn't reach the next peg. "Let's try this." Joel said. He reached right over top of me and grabbed the peg directly above my head. He swung his leg to the peg by my hip. I moved my foot a little higher up. "On the count of three," he said. "Reach as high as you can and try to pull yourself up."

"Got it," I said.

"One… two… three..." he said. Together we pushed ourselves up. He half pulled me with his legs since we were harnessed together at the waist. Together, we reached the next set of pegs. He could reach the top of the wall from where we were now. He got to the top of the wall, and then reached his hand out to me. He literally pulled me to the top of the wall with one arm.

"Whoo," he said. "That was hard."

I laughed. "Just a little." We were both laughing now. Quil and Claire finished a second later. Claire was grinning at Quil.

"I didn't think you were going to make it for a second there." Rachel said.

"Well I wasn't quitting," I said. At that instant, Sam and Emily appeared at the top of the wall. Sam pulled Emily for the last part of the climb, and they both finished laughing.

"Very good," Joe said. He and Katy had been watching us from a distance.

"Now for the hard part," Katy said. "You get to propel back down." They demonstrated how to hold your rope, and then said, "Go."

The entire time they had been demonstrating I had started to freak out. I couldn't see myself walking down that wall, much less propelling down it.

"You ready?" Joel asked.

Oh boy. "Yep," I lied. This was going to be good. Joel stood behind me and tightened the harness that held us together. That way, he could hold on to me and the rope as we went down. The other guys were doing the same. Abbey and Seth led the way again. They propelled down and were done before I even started. Brooke and Embry went down in a similar fashion, only a little bit slower. Nessie and Jacob went next. They had harnessed themselves so that Nessie would be out of the way. Jacob would propel them down with his legs. Hers were too much smaller than his.

Quil and Claire went down the same way. The only difference was Quil held on to Claire with one hand, and the rope with the other. She was a little young to be holding on by herself. Joel and I walked over to the edge. Jared and Kim and Paul and Rachel were going down now.

They all went a little slower because they had to push with their legs at the same time. Sam and Emily started walking down the wall. They were slow, but had a good pace. "Here we go," Joel said. He started to walk us backwards, but my feet wouldn't work. He could tell I was scared. "It's okay," he said calmly. "Just lean against me, and hold on to the rope." I tried to do as he told me. We got over the edge of the wall. Joel had his arm around my waist. We were going really slowly, but I was still terrified. I'd never been afraid of heights. But being parallel to the ground with my legs out in front of me scared me. I started to breathe fast and shake a little.

"Sh, Leah, it's okay," Joel murmured. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you." The baby was going crazy. I was fearful, so it became scared.

"The baby doesn't like being scared," I told him breathlessly.

He laughed. "I can tell." He patted my stomach. Slowly, we made our way to the bottom. I had heard Sam and Emily touch ground a while ago. Everybody was watching us. "And… here we go." Joel said. My feet hit the safety mat that was below us. "Good job," he said. He gave my shoulder a squeeze.

"Good job is right." Katy said.

"You guys are the first group to ever make it this far without messing up." Joe continued.

"We've decided to warn you," Katy said. "Tomorrow's challenge will last over night." We all looked around at each other.

"It will test how well you work as a team," Joe said. "We'll start the challenge when it gets dark." Meet at the boathouse around seven o'clock. You'll need to prepare."

"See you tomorrow," Katy said cheerfully. Then they left

"Okay then…" Emily said.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

The next night, we were all driving over to the boathouse when Sam got a phone call. His phone was on speaker. "It's Brady." Sam told us. "Hello?"

"Uh… Sam?" Brady asked.

"Yeah…" Sam said

"What do we do if Wyatt ran into a tree on accident which fell down and knocked over three other trees in the process? Because frankly, I don't feel comfortable chopping them up with a hacksaw like we usually do because I don't think anybody wants to see what happens when you give seven hyper teenagers a hacksaw." Brady said slowly. He sounded drugged.

"Why are they hyper?" Sam asked.

"I don't know but I think one of them got their hands on coffee." Brady answered.

"Okay and why do you sound stoned?" Sam asked.

"Um… because neither Collin nor I have slept for three days." He answered sluggishly.

Sam sighed. "Okay the first thing you do is you get some sleep. Then you and Collin send the other guys somewhere and you cut up the trees yourselves. Oh, and make sure they don't get their hands on coffee again."

"Got it, thanks," Brady muttered.

"Now go sleep." Sam ordered.

"'Kay," Brady sighed. Then the line went dead.

"Wow," I said, dragging out the word.

"Yeah…." Sam said. "I don't even want to know why they weren't sleeping."

We arrived at the boathouse then. We climbed out of the cars and walked over to where Katy and Joe were standing by a dock. They had a small motor boat by them, and many wetsuits. Oh boy. "Hey guys," Katy said. "Are you ready for this?" It was clearly a rhetorical question.

"Okay," Joe said. "Here's the challenge. You see that little island over there?" He pointed to the distance. It was pretty far away, but I could see it. "You have to either swim, or float on the boat over there. Spend the night, then come back tomorrow morning. You may start whenever you like, but you all must start at the same time. Go." He finished. Oh we were in for a long night.

"Alright guys, here we go." Sam said. We walked over to where the wetsuits were. We all found a wetsuit that fit us pretty well. Joel quickly zipped me up, and I zipped him up. Joe and Katy gave us waterproof hats so we could stay warm. I tucked my hair into my hat. Then I helped Claire do that to her hair. Quil couldn't figure it out. Boys and hair…

"Okay," Jared said when we were all suited up. "I think we should figure out who our strongest swimmers are." We all looked around, and then burst out laughing. Any of the wolves and Nessie could swim to that island without getting too tired. "Okay let me rephrase," Jared said. "Who are our weakest swimmers?"

Um…" Quil said. "Claire can swim, just not that far."

"Okay Claire is obviously on the boat." I said. "Who else can't swim the whole way?"

"I freely admit that I can't get all the way there." Emily said.

"Claire and Emily on the boat."I said.

"I can't make it either." Rachel said. "At least not without slowing you guys down."

"You can go on the boat then too." I told Rachel. "Anybody else?"

"Abbey swims on the swim team I coach." Kim said. "So we should be good."

"Plus," Paul said. "That boat has a small motor on it. It'll get to the island faster than us. I think whenever the first people on the boat get to the island; one person should come back and get people out of the water. So if you guys get too tired, you can ride some of the way, and swim some."

"Very thoughtful, Paul." Emily noted.

"Go on the boat Leah." Brooke said. It sounded like an order.

"Um…. Why?" I asked.

"Because you're not stupid." She said. "And it would be a stupid move to swim all the way over there. You're pregnant kid."

"Oh." I said. "O-kay…"

"Then let's get going." Joel said.

"Here we go," Quil said.

We lowered the boat, which was little more than a raft, into the water. Rachel climbed in first. Emily and I followed. Claire got lowered in then. She sat in between Rachel and Emily. I would be running the motor. "You guys ready?" I called.

"Yeah," Jake called back.

"Okay, let's go." I said. I cranked the motor and we shot off toward the island. The other's jumped in, and began their swim. Abbey and Kim were great swimmers. They weren't quite as fast as the others, but they held their own. Abbey was perky and sporty, perfect for Seth. We quickly out moved the guys, and were soon to the island. By my watch it took twenty minutes. The guys were almost halfway here. Rachel hopped out of the boat when the water was still up to her knees. She hoisted Claire onto her hip, and Emily slid off too. Together, the three of them waded the distance to shore. We had decided not to go too close to shore with the boat, to save time pushing it back to deeper water and starting the motor again.

It only took about thirty seconds to turn the boat around and go back to get a second group. Ten minutes later I was to where the guys were. I started slowly circling them so I wouldn't have to stop the motor. On my first time around I was going to grab Abbey. "Abbey!" I called a while before I got there. She started to swim to where I would be in my circling when I got to her. I slowed as much as possible and held my hand out. She caught it, and in one fluid motion, I lifted her behind my back and threw her onto the boat. She landed lightly on all fours. She was breathing hard. Too hard. Way too hard.

"Abbey?" I called. She flopped onto her side. "Abbey!" I yelled. I crawled to her side. Her face was blue. "Help!" I screamed. Most of the others had swam over by then.

"Oh my god," Kim panted, out of breath as well. She scrambled on to the boat. "She has asthma." She told us.

"Abbey, honey, where's your inhaler?" Seth asked quickly, but calmly. He seemed to know she needed calm. He pulled himself onto the boat as well. We could see her struggling to control her breathing. She was shaking at the shoulders. She patted her right side. "Right pocket." Seth said confidently. I ripped her wetsuit off, and Seth reached inside her right pocket. He pulled out an inhaler. I had my arms wrapped through Abbey's and I was sitting behind her. Her torso was propped up on my lap. Mom had taught us at a young age how to handle emergencies. Seth knew how to work an inhaler. The others were swimming around the boat, watching on.

"On the count of three sweetheart," Seth said. "One, two, three." He placed the inhaler on her lips and pushed down slowly.

"One, two, three, four, five," I counted. Seth pulled the inhaler away. Abbey was clearly an experienced asthmatic. She was starting to gain control of her air.

"One, two, three." Seth said again. Again I counted to five. After five minutes of this, Abbey was in control.

"Bad idea." She muttered.

"Sh," I said. "Just breathe deep hon." I looked around. We were almost to the island again. The guys were still swimming around. I saw Nessie already at the island. She seemed to be explaining to the girls what was going on. Kim had taken control of the boat. The guys stood a second later. The water was up to their waists. They started to wade to shore. Seth climbed out, and I handed Abbey to him. He cradled her in his arms. She looked frighteningly weak. Kim and I pulled the boat onto the beach, and joined where the others were standing. I saw Abbey lying on the ground. She was asleep.

"Is she okay?" I whispered.

"Yeah, I think." Joel whispered back. Her color was back to normal, but she was clearly exhausted.

"So I guess we're sleeping on the beach tonight." Brooke said. "Exciting."

I laughed. "Yeah," I said. "Something like that. Let's get these off." We all started to peel off our wetsuits. We were in for a long night.

Five hours later, I was the last one awake. Pregnancy does that to you. Joel was on one side of me, Paul was on the other. We had all laid out in a line on the beach. I could hear the slow breathing of everyone around me. About an hour ago I had realized we had a problem. There was no way Abbey could swim back tomorrow, and our boat couldn't hold her. It wasn't a huge problem, I could just swim back, and Rachel could run the boat. I was a little worried though that I couldn't make it all the way back. I knew I would be tired tomorrow and that would make it harder. But what choice did we have? These were the thoughts that I drifted to sleep with.

I was woke at the crack of dawn by a jolt from my abdomen. I was startled awake. The baby had kicked so hard I jumped. Joel felt me moving. His eyes fluttered open. "You okay?" he whispered. I rubbed the area the baby had kicked.

"Yeah," I assured him. He placed his hand on top of mine, and kissed my forehead. We both drifted back to sleep. About an hour later, the others started to wake up. Joel and I were quick to follow. By six-thirty, we were all up and dressed in out wetsuits.

"Abbey, you ride in the boat today sweetie, I'm going to swim." I told her.

She stared at me. "Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yep, I'll be okay." I insisted. We started today like we had last night. The boat was loaded and started, and we began our swim. I was tired. By the time we were about a quarter of the way there, I knew I would have to climb on the boat when it was brought back around. I was exhausted before we were halfway there. I was actually starting to get dizzy. I saw the boat turn around, and tried to motivate myself to keep going. It was hard though. My head was spinning, and I was so tired. I started to fall behind.

"Leah?" Joel called. I barely heard him. The baby was kicking up a storm. It was painful even. I felt my whole body give out. My face touched the water. "Leah!" Joel yelled. That was the last thing I remember. The next conscious thought I had was the baby. It was still kicking like crazy. It didn't hurt, but it was definitely kicking. I felt warm arms holding me, and recognized Joel. Then I heard the voices.

"I think she's coming to," Seth said. My eyes fluttered.

"Leah?" Joel asked.

I forced my heavy lids open. "Joel?" I muttered. "What happened?"

"You fainted," he said. "Are you okay honey? What happened?"

I thought about that. "I was so tired…" I trailed off. My eyes were drooping.

"Sleep Leah," Joel muttered. He didn't need to tell me twice. The last thing I remember is seeing that we were in the back of Joel's truck.

What felt like minutes later, I could feel a warm hand stroking my hair. The baby had stopped kicking, and my stomach felt slightly numb. I opened my eyes and squinted at the dim light. "Joel?" I whispered. I tried to sit up.

"Sh, lay down." Joel's hands pushed me back down. He was sitting by my head. I looked around. We were in the girl's hotel room. I was in one of the beds.

"What happened?" I asked for the second time that day.

"We were swimming back," he said. "I looked behind me and you were going underwater. We swam you to shore, but you were unconscious. Joe and Katy were going to wait for you to come around, but we sent them home after twenty minutes. We hopped into the truck, and you came to on the way here. You were exhausted. You fell back sleep within seconds of waking up. I sent the others to get something to eat a few minutes ago. You were out for about four hours. It's eleven o'clock in the morning."

I listened quietly. "Oh," I said.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

I thought about that. I felt a little weak, but nothing too serious. The baby nudged me. It seemed to be okay. "Yeah," I answered. "I think." The baby kicked hard, and I jumped. Joel noticed.

"You've been doing that in your sleep," he told me. "Emily thought that it might be the baby."

I nodded. "Emily was right. It is the baby."

"Kicking that hard?" he asked.

"Yeah," I sighed. "That's mostly what wore me out when we were swimming back."

He sighed too. "I'm sorry," he said.

"For what?" I asked.

He thought for a moment. "I don't know. I'm sorry you're worn out like this."

"It's not your fault," I said. "Well… not really." I gave him a weak laugh. He joined in.

"Okay, what do you need me to do to make it better?" He asked. I jumped again. I rubbed the spot where the baby had kicked.

"Could you get me some water?" He stood right up. He came back with a cold water bottle. He helped me sit up and propped some pillows behind my back. After drinking the whole water bottle, I felt much better. Not quite as weak.

"I think I want to take a shower," I told him. He helped me out of bed. "I've got it," I said. I kissed his cheek. "Thanks for saving me."

He smiled. "Any time."

After a hot fifteen minute shower, I felt almost one hundred percent back to normal. I was a little tired, but I decided to pack up my clothes. We were leaving tomorrow.

The next four months of my pregnancy slipped by fast. I ran patrol about half as much as I used to. Joel or Seth or Brooke or one of the other guys took my spot when I got too tired to keep up. I kept getting bigger. Dr. Cullen assured me that our baby was completely healthy, and I was gaining hardly any weight. We had decided on a name for our baby. It was either a Nicholas Sam or an Alexis Jane. Emily and Sam had chosen to name their baby either Jennifer Rose or Brandon Michael. The weekly ultrasounds continued. Joel and I had asked Dr. Cullen not to tell us the baby's gender. One week Edward told us he could hear our baby's thoughts. He told us our baby liked the sound of our voices.

In the middle of the night, when I was finally asleep, I got woke up by a sharp pain in my side. I gasped, and my eyes shot open. It hurt on the left side of my rib cage. What was that? The pain was dulling now. Whatever had happened, it was healing, like all my injuries did. Could the baby have broken a rib? The kicks had been getting harder… "Joel," I said. He was a light sleeper. His head snapped up.

"Yeah?" he said.

"I… I think the baby broke a rib." I was breathing hard. "It's healing now, but it hurts." He pushed himself up higher and put his hand on my cheek.

"Should I call the doctor?" he asked.

I thought about that for a moment. "That would probably be best. Just in case it's something serious."

"Okay," he said. He grabbed the phone. Our clock said it was quarter to three in the morning. Joel was on the phone for about two minutes. When he hung up he said, "He wants us to come over there so he can run some tests and see what happened. He told me not to let you try to sit up or walk."

"Alright," I said. "Let's go." He scooped me up gently into his arms. He carried me out to the car. We were pulling up to the Cullen house by three am. Almost all the lights were on in the house. Joel carried me up to the door, which Carlisle held open. We went up to his office, where he laid me on the now familiar table.

"Okay… Leah…" he said. "Which side do you think the rib was broken on?"

"The left," I told him.

"Alright let me take a quick x-ray," he said.

After the x-ray he turned on a bright overhead light. "The rib appeared to be in good condition, except for a slight crack toward the end. But even that was healing as I watched," he told us. "I'm just going to see if I feel anything strange." He peeled my shirt back and gently felt above my swollen abdomen. "Nothing feels wrong," he said a minute later. "It seems nothing came of this broken rib. I would like to tell you that it won't happen again, but I can't make any promises." He looked me in the eye. "Your baby is very strong Leah. I don't know if the bone breaking will continue, but if it does, you need to come see me."

I nodded. "I understand." Three weeks later, there had only been one other broken bone. One of my ribs on the right side. This time had been more interesting though. I was in wolf form when it happened. We were all meeting to discuss a new route for when we ran patrol, so every single wolf was in my head when one of my bones was broken. Every wolf younger than Brooke simultaneously freaked out. All that it amounted to was another trip to the doctor.

A couple weeks later, Emily and I were sitting on her couch talking. Sam and Joel had gone out running. "So anyways," Emily said "I was going to call you but-" She stopped. Her eyes got wide and she raised her eyebrows.

"Emily?" I asked.

"Oh!" She said. "I just… I think I just went into labor."

"You're sure?" I said.

"Pretty darn," she said. "That wasn't some annoying poke."

"I'll get Sam," I said. I walked out to their backyard and toward the woods. I didn't get all the way there. Out of nowhere, it hurt. Not a lot, but it was definitely pain. It was over in about five seconds. I had just gone into labor. I started moving back toward the house. "Emily!" I called when I opened the door. She walked over to me.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Um… I can't go get Sam," I told her. "I just went into labor."

"Oh gosh!" She said. "Okay um… let's call the doctor first."

"Right," I agreed. I walked over to the phone and dialed the number.

"Hello?" It wasn't the doctor. I think it was Edward.

"Um, hi, this is Leah Marquie is Carlisle there?"

"Oh I'm sorry Leah this is Edward," he said. "Carlisle won't be back until late tonight, but perhaps I can help you."

I sighed. This wasn't good. "Well," I said. "Both Emily Uley and I just went into labor."

I heard him swear under his breath. "Okay," he said. "Um… I have a proposition. Oh boy. Um… I could deliver the babies for you." He suggested this tentatively.

"You're going to do _what_?" I heard somebody scream. Probably Bella.

"You know how to do that?" I asked.

"In theory, yes," he said. "Have I ever done it? No."

Another small contraction came. It _hurt. _I gasped. "You know what," I said. "Go ahead. I really have no other options and I'm going to need help. I'm just going to have to trust you on this."

"Okay," he said. "Bella and I are coming." Before I hung up, I heard him say, "C'mon Bella, we're going to deliver some babies!"

Now for our husbands. I needed to find a wolf. I called Jake's cell phone. Nobody ever answered that house phone anyway.

"Hello?" Jake answered.

"Jacob!" I said. "Emily and I just went into labor and Sam and Joel are out running. Could you go find them and tell them to get their butts back here? Ow!" I gasped. That contraction was definitely worse than the last two. "Hurry," I told him.

"I'm on my way. Hold on Leah," he said quickly. I hung up the phone. I could hear Emily panting in the next room. I slowly walked to her.

"Gosh," she said. "I didn't know they came so fast."

"I know," I said. Another contraction came. I tried to breathe through it. It helped a little. I heard a knock at the door. I could smell the vampires. For the first time, I was thankful for the horrendous smell. "Come in!" I yelled. Edward and Bella came through the door and into the living room.

"Hi," Edward said. "How are you today?"

"I'm just swell," I told him. "Ow," I gasped.

"Alrighty then," Edward said. "I want you guys to change into these gowns and we'll see how things are moving." He held out two hospital gowns. We took them and went into Sam and Emily's room to change. We finished, and went back out to the living room. "So… where do you want to do this?" Edward asked.

"Well," Emily said. "The bedroom is the biggest, so there I guess."

"Lead the way," Bella said.

We got to the bedroom and Emily and I lay down on the bed. "Who wants to be first?" Edward asked.

Emily and I looked at each other. "I'm brave," I said. I slouched back into the pillows. I paused for a second. "Oh this could get awkward," I said.

Edward and Bella laughed. "We're good at awkward," Bella said.

I laughed with them. "Here we go," I said. Edward only poked around for about fifteen seconds, but it hurt. A lot. Bella saw that I was in pain and grabbed my hand. I squeezed hard. "Okay Leah," Edward said. "You are about two centimeters along," he told me. "That's great, considering you've been in labor for about forty minutes." He checked Emily then, and Bella switched to her hand. Edward came back with the same news for her.

"So," Bella said. "Full speed ahead then."

"Fun, fun," I muttered sarcastically.

"I'm curious," Edward said. "Where are your lovely husbands?"

I sighed. "I wish I knew. They went out running and we went into labor. Jacob's looking for them."

"I see," Edward said. I gasped. Ow. Joel had better hurry up. I couldn't do this without him.

"Okay," Edward said. "I have some bad news." I sighed. "The bad news is; we're going to have to go all natural here."

"That's your bad news?" Emily asked. "I thought it was going to be much worse."

"Glad it wasn't," he said.

"Here's the thing," Bella said. "To kick-start your labor, you have to get moving, walk. Normally you would walk around a hospital, but that's obviously not an option. So where do you guys want to walk?" I thought about that. There was no way I was walking around La Push like this. I guess we would have to stick to the house. I told Bella and Edward this and Emily agreed that she didn't want to walk around La Push. We both settled on her house. "Then let's get walking," Bella said. We walked for about thirty minutes. I didn't have any major contractions, but Emily had two pretty big ones. She was tough, she handled them well. All of the sudden, I contracted. Hard. It hurt like crazy.

"Oh!" I gasped. I fell forward, and Bella caught me. I leaned against her, and waited out the pain.

"You okay?" She asked after what seemed like an eternity later.

"Yeah," I said. "Wow. Ow."

"Let's go check you girls again," Edward suggested. We went into the bedroom, and Emily and I lay down. Edward began to check me, and Bella held my hand. I winced. It hurt even worse than the last time. I moaned a little.

"Sorry…" Edward muttered. I sighed as he finished. He checked Emily then. Her reaction was similar to mine. "I don't believe this," Edward said. "It's like your babies are thinking with one mind. You are both half-way there. The walking sped you up tremendously." I sat up and felt the next contraction hit me. It hurt so much. I felt the tears come. Bella wrapped her arm around my shoulders. I heard Emily gasp beside me.

"Sh…" Bella comforted us. My contraction eased as Emily's peaked and died slowly.

"I want Joel," I said to Emily.

She nodded. "I know the feeling." We climbed out of bed and began walking again. More slowly this time. We were both crying again after an hour. Eventually, we decided to take a break. We lay down on the bed, and tried to work through contractions.

Another hour passed. Where was Joel? Another contraction came. It was the worse one yet. It got worse and worse. I moaned. "Ow!" I yelled. I felt warm liquid around my legs. "Oh!" I gasped, and moaned again.

"Your water broke Leah," Edward said.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

Bella wiped the sweat from my brow. "Just keep breathing," she encouraged. I heard voices outside the house. Hurried feet. Joel. Finally. I heard the back door open.

"Sam…" Emily sighed. The bedroom door flew open. Sam walked in calmly as ever, Joel following.

"Sorry," they both said at the same time. "We phased back and Jake couldn't find us," Joel explained.

"It's fine," I said. "You're here now, that's all that matters."

"So where are we right now?" Sam asked.

"My water just broke," I told him. "And it _hurts._"

"We're both dilated to five centimeters," Emily continued. "Oh!" She said and her face went white. "My gosh! That does hurt! Ow!" She grabbed Sam's hand as her water broke. She sighed. "Ow," she said again. I groaned as the next contraction hit me. It hurt so much worse now that my water had broken. Joel put his arm around me and stroked my hair. I focused on breathing. The contractions were getting longer and closer together.

"I hate to say it," Bella said. "But you guys need to keep walking."

I sighed. "C'mon Emily." I got up and wrapped my arm around Joel. He put his arm on my shoulders. We began walking around the house again. Every time a contraction hit, I would stop and wrap my arms around Joel's neck. I would lay my head face down on his shoulder, and wait out the contraction. He was my rock. The strength I needed. After another hour of walking, Emily and I both had silent tears running down our cheeks. I could barely move, and I knew Emily was in the same boat. She looked exhausted, and that's how I felt. Edward had told us a few minutes ago that his family had gotten a hold of Carlisle. He was coming as fast as he could, but he was about an hour and a half away.

"You girls ready to get checked again?" Bella asked.

I groaned. "I guess," I muttered. I went first again. It hurt worse this time. Much worse. Edward moved fast, but it was just as bad. I couldn't help but whimper. Joel held my hand, and put his other hand under my neck, trying to comfort me. I sighed as he finished, but quickly gasped, and whimpered as the next contraction hit. Joel stroked my hair. Bella left the room and came back with two glasses of water. She held it up to my lips, and I sipped at it. "Thanks," I muttered.

"Any time," she said.

"Okay," Edward said. "Once again, I'm completely freaked out by how your babies are moving together. You guys are both at eight and a half centimeters."

I looked at Emily and smiled. "Almost there, Em," I said.

"Yeah… almost," she said.

"I have an idea," I said a little louder. "How about we try to make each other laugh? I'll start. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha! Ha! OW!" I moaned as the next contraction hit and slumped into Joel. He rubbed my neck. The contraction eased slowly. "Bad idea," I muttered.

Emily smiled. "Not a bad idea, just out of place. OW!" Her reaction to the contraction was very similar to mine. I wrapped my arm around my stomach. The baby was much lower than what I was used to.

For the last part of our labor, Emily and I stayed in bed. We were too exhausted to walk anymore. It was about one in the afternoon when we were checked again. We had been in labor for four and a half hours. When Edward checked us this time, the pain was almost natural. It wasn't any worse than a contraction. I just laid there and focused on getting air to me and the baby. He checked Emily and she whimpered a little, but was otherwise silent.

"Well we made it," Edward said. "You're both at ten centimeters. Just give me a second to prepare, and then you'll start pushing. Bella, you show them how to push."

She looked at him weirdly for a second, then said, "Oh! Okay." She walked to the foot of the bed. "Okay, pretty much, you're going to curl your legs up to your chest, and push your head down. Focus all the energy you have into pushing. I will hold your feet and your dear husbands will hold your heads."

All of the sudden, we heard Edward opening the door. I recognized the distinctive smell of the doctor. Edward was quickly explaining what was going on as they strode into the room. The doctor was completely calm and focused. "You ready ladies?" He asked. I nodded. "Bella, you count, hold the push to the count of ten girls," he explained. He stood at my feet, and Edward at Emily's. Bella grabbed our feet and we assumed the position. "Okay, here they come, ready, push."

I pushed with everything I had. It hurt so badly. Like I was being beaten with a bat from the inside out. I tried to focus. My baby was coming. The baby would soon be in my arms. This gave me the strength to hold the first push. "…nine…ten," Bella said. "Awesome job, breathe deep now." I breathed hard and deep.

"Excellent Leah," I heard the doctor say. I could hear Edward saying similar things to Emily. Joel kissed my forehead. "Ready, push," the doctor instructed again. The pain got worse. I could hear Joel muttering in my ear.

"You've got it honey, you're almost there. You've almost made it, it's almost over. I love you." I took strength from his words for the second push.

"…nine…ten," Bella said again. "Good job, I can see the heads..."

"Almost there, almost there," Edward was saying. I breathed. I could feel my baby's head.

The third push. I couldn't find the strength. I was so tired. It hurt so badly. "Leah," Joel whispered in my ear. "Strength, Leah. Strength is never giving up. Strength was all you knew a few months ago. Use strength." He was right. I could do this. I had known nothing but strength before Joel. I felt the small yelp form on my lips and couldn't help but let it slip out. I could hear Emily yelling a little. I gave in, and just let the scream out. I heard Emily do the same. I felt the head of the baby almost out. With close to my last ounce of strength, and a final moan, I stopped pushing.

"Breathe, girls, breathe," Bella coached. "The worst is over, you can do this."

"Now girls," the doctor spoke up. "Give us the best push you can muster and this will all be over." I started to cry. It was almost over. But it hurt so bad…

"Ready, push." I didn't even try to think. I just pushed as hard as I could. I was sobbing. Somewhere, I realized Emily was too. Joel was holding my head, and just letting me cry. He knew I needed to just let it out. I pushed, and felt the baby leave my body. I fell into the bed a second before Emily did. The most beautiful sound in the world. Two high pitched screams. I knew which was my baby, I could just tell. I could see Joel looking for our baby, just like I was. I felt the cord being cut, and my legs hit the bed. Bella laid blankets on me and Emily's chests, and my baby was handed to me.

"A boy," Bella muttered. I heard her tell Emily it was a girl. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. All red faced and screaming. He had my nose and for an instant I caught a glimpse of Joel's electric blue eyes.

"Sh," I cooed. I rocked him in my arms. He calmed, and started to snooze. "Joel…" I said, tears streaming down my face.

"I know…" he said. He put his arm around me and leaned down to kiss his forehead. I held him to my chest.

"Names?" Bella asked quietly.

"Nicholas Sam," Joel answered.

"Jennifer Rose," Sam muttered.

"They're beautiful. Good job girls," she said. She was backing out of the room quickly. The blood probably bothered her.

Twenty minutes later, the babies had had their shots and we were all cleaned up. We were ready for our first visitors. News was spreading like wildfire throughout the rez. Mom was in first. She came in quietly. For a while she just smiled at us. Then she said, "Well Miss Leah, where has the time gone? It was just yesterday that I was cradling you to my chest like that." She had tears in her eyes. Joel had got to hold Nick (as we had decided to call him) a few minutes ago. I thought he was going to cry, but he held it together. Sam and Emily had decided to call their baby girl Jenny as well.

I smiled. "Do you want to hold him?" I asked. She nodded.

She cradled him to her chest, and a tear escaped when she said, "I wish your dad was here for this."

I kept on smiling. "Me too mom." We sat in silence for a while, then she left us with kisses. Sam and Emily sat quietly with a sleeping Jenny still in Sam's arms.

"Now for the hard part," Sam said. "We have to deal with the other guys." I laughed a little.

"This could get interesting," I said.

Sam gently handed Jenny to Emily, then went outside to get the guys. All of them were out there by the sound of it. It was almost two fifteen in the afternoon.

"Hey Sam!"

"Sam!"

"What happened?"

Seventeen voices all spoke at once. "Sh!" Sam cut them off sharply. "Quiet would be a really smart move right now." It was silent almost immediately. "Oh, and congratulations Seth. You have a nephew." I could almost see Seth's mouth fall open. One by one the guys entered the house. The door to the bedroom was open, so they tentatively followed Sam in. They all crammed into a line around the room. Some of the guys looked creeped out. Teenage boys and babies with mother's who were exhausted from childbirth… never good.

I saw Seth standing in the corner. "Seth Clearwater," I said. "Come here. You are officially going to learn how to hold a baby."

Seth stepped forward. "I'm scared!" he said.

"Me too," I told him. "Let's do this."

"You can do it Seth," Emily said confidently. Her eyes looked tired.

"Ha ha, yeah…" Seth said. He walked to my side of the bed.

Joel stood up and pushed Seth into his chair. "Sit," he said. "You aren't the only one scared that you're going to drop my baby."

"Thanks for the encouragement," Seth muttered. Seth looked at the baby and held out his arms. I tried to sit up off the pillows and hand Nick to him, but I fell right back.

"Okay," I said. "Soreness. Ow. Emily don't try that. It hurts."

She laughed. "I think I've had enough pain for one day."

"Yeah…" I agreed. Joel took the baby and gently laid him in Seth's arms. Seth sat perfectly still, his eyes wide. Nick lay comfortable for a minute, but only that. He started to wail. It was quiet, but as loud as he could go. Seth looked terrified. I didn't let myself freak out. Neither did Joel. Joel reached down and held out his finger to Nick's flailing fist. Nick grabbed onto it, and started to calm.

"Now," Joel said, looking right at Nick. "You can't be crying at your Uncle Seth. You probably traumatized him, kid." Brooke was silently laughing at Seth in the corner by Emily.

"If it's so funny," Seth said, handing the baby to Joel. "You try," he dared her.

She snorted. "Oh, this'll be good." She walked over to us, and Joel handed her the baby. Nick stayed silent, as Brooke knew exactly what to do. She held him, and it looked like the most natural thing in the world.

Emily and I busted up. "I guess it's just a girl thing." Emily said. I finally took a good look at Jenny. She was as beautiful as her mother, but she had Sam's nose. She was adorable.

"I have a question," Brooke said. She looked slightly uncomfortable. "Does it hurt as bad as they say it does?"

"Uh, yeah," Emily and I said together.

"My best description is being beaten with a bat from the inside out. At least at the end…" I shuddered at the memory. All the guys winced. "I probably shouldn't have told you that," I muttered.

"Yeah…" Brooke said.

"Okay," Emily said. "I am officially kicking you guys out of my house. I can't keep my eyes open." The guys started to shuffle out of the room. I leaned into the pillows and was asleep before they were all gone.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

A day and a half later, Joel, Nick, and I were finally home. We had a small nursery set up in the spare room. I had shown Joel how to change a diaper a few minutes ago. It was pretty funny. I was nursing Nick now. It was the second time. It was a… bonding experience. A howl came up from the woods. It was Sam. I looked questioningly at Joel. Then Jacob howled. "Go ahead," I told Joel. I was going to run Nick to Emily's house. Both she and mom had agreed to watch him if I had to go. Joel dashed out the door, and I pulled away from Nick. He was crying as I wrapped him in a blanket. I quickly comforted him. Emily met us twenty feet from her front door. She was holding Jenny in one arm. Without a word, she took Nick in the other arm and I was off. I phased a minute later.

_Oh ow! Ow! Ow! _ I thought. I was still sore. _Ow!_

_ What's wrong?_ Joel thought.

_I'm sore, and it hurts!_ I told him. I got to the circle just seconds behind Wyatt. It felt good to be fast again. _Ow. _I thought for a second time.

_Two minutes, thirty-six seconds. _I heard Sam think.

_ARE YOUKIDDING ME?_ I mentally screamed at Sam. _That was a drill? No way!_

_ What? I thought you liked moving fast, _Jake thought.

I mentally sighed. _I do, but I was feeding my baby. That's not an easy thing to just start and stop!_

_ Oh…_ Jake thought awkwardly.

_Anyway, good job guys,_ Sam told us. _How's your kid Leah?_

_ Very calm, _I told him. _And Joel learned how to change a diaper._

_ I did,_ Joel thought proudly.

_Me too! _Sam thought. _She screamed the whole time though…_

A week later, we were all getting together for a barbecue. Billy and Jacob were hosting. It was the perfect day for it. A few clouds, but the sun was shining. This was the first time we were all really together since, well, a while ago. We decided to walk to Jacob's. We didn't have a stroller yet, so I carried the diaper bag, and Joel carried Nick. I had Nick in shorts and a long sleeved t-shirt for the warm end-of-June day. Joel had found a cheap newborns baseball hat that he had put on Nick. We didn't have much money now, as we never would.

As of right now, we couldn't really work much because of the wolf thing. They needed an extra lifeguard at the beach though, and Joel was going to apply. It would be about two hours a day, six days a week. It wouldn't pay much, but it would help. For now though, we both had college funds we were living off of. I was thinking about starting to work independently with a big company. The local Mary-Kay (make-up) seller was looking for a new employee. I hear that you get to choose your hours pretty much. I wasn't much of a make-up wearer though, so that would make it harder to sell… Anyway, the people on the reservation were helping as much as they could, but they could only do so much. Most of the guys still lived with their parents, so it wasn't a problem for them. Even Sam ad Emily had it easier because Emily had a full-time job in Forks. She was on maternity leave right now though. Sam would stay with Jenny when she went back. If he had to leave, mom, Billy, and Abbey had all volunteered to babysit. They had of course volunteered for us as well, but we wouldn't need it until Emily went back to work.

"Hey guys," Seth called as we walked into the backyard. The fence was open.

"Hi Seth," I called back. Nick had fallen asleep on the walk over, and was happily dozing in Joel's arms. As I looked around, I saw that most of the younger guys were playing soccer over by Jacob's old shed. Emily was sitting in a lawn chair under a big shade tree. She had laid a sleeping Jenny out on a blanket near her. Sam was talking to Billy across the yard. I took Nick from Joel, and he went to talk to Jake. I joined Emily.

"Hey Em," I said.

"Hey," she replied. I sat down on the blanket and laid Nick next to Jenny. He woke up when he hit the not-so-warm-compared-to-me blanket, but he didn't fuss. Jenny awoke as well, and moved her eyes to us. They were a beautiful, deep brown. "I have an idea," Emily said thoughtfully. "But I need your help."

"Okay," I said. "Let's hear it."

"I was wondering if the guys could tell the babies apart if their clothes were switched and we weren't with them."

"Let's try it," I said immediately. We went into the house, and decided we were going to try it on Jared. He was pretty easygoing, and wouldn't freak out. We changed their clothes, and rocked them to sleep. Nick's eyes would be a dead giveaway. We went outside, and laid them back out on the blanket. I stood by Emily's chair. Jared walked by the blanket a second later.

"Hey Jared," I said. "Could you hand me Nick?" He looked scared. "Just hold his head, and don't drop him," I coached. He still looked a little worried, but he bent down, and gently picked up Jenny. He handed her to me. "Well," I said, a smile playing on my lips. "Miss Jenny sure is pretty, but I'm pretty sure that she isn't Nick." I smiled fully at him.

"I'm confused," he admitted full-out.

Emily laughed. "We just wanted to see if you could tell them apart," she sighed. "I guess not."

I laughed, and laid Jenny back on the blanket by Nick. "It's fine Jared," I said. "You couldn't be expected to know which baby is which. At least not yet." Jared smiled.

"Hey Leah," Joel called. "Why is our son wearing girl clothes?" He sounded concerned.

I laughed. "Just a little experiment," I told him. He looked confused, but nodded. We went back into the house and changed the babies back into their own clothes. The rest of the day was great. We enjoyed the sun, and stayed around the fire that we built late into the night. Claire fell asleep in Quil's arms, followed shortly by Nessie in Jacob's.

Joel and I carried a sleeping Nick home around eleven-thirty. As Joel and I laid Nick in his crib, he sighed contently. Joel wrapped his arms around me, and kissed me passionately. I grabbed his hand, and we walked to our room to try and get some sleep before Nick woke up again. We made it until about two, when Nick woke up hungry. I fed him in the rocking chair in our room. Joel stayed awake with me until we finished. I cuddled Nick to my chest, and lay back down next to Joel. He kissed Nick's head, and then my lips. He wrapped his arms around me, and we drifted to sleep. I didn't know what the future held for us, but I knew it would be okay as long as we were together. Always.


End file.
